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Petition to Enforce the Easement

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Help us by are calling on our state leaders to enforce the easement granted to Enbridge for their Line 5 oil pipelines to be allowed to operate in the Straits of Mackinac.

Take action to protect the Great Lakes from a disastrous oil spill.

Please note that signing this petition here has nothing to do with the Line 5 ballot proposal that is being circulated.

Michigan Governor Snyder and Attorney General Schuette:

As you know, the Canadian pipeline company Enbridge pumps almost 23 million gallons of oil every day through its Line 5 pipeline, from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ontario.

Enbridge is currently operating in violation of the 1953 easement agreement with the State of Michigan to operate Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. Turbulent currents and winter conditions make the Straits the worst possible location for a spill. Required supports for Line 5 have washed out for the second time in two years. Independent experts have identified at least seven state and federal violations of this legal agreement with the state.

Since 1988, this 64-year-old pipeline has failed at least fifteen times, dumping about 260,000 gallons of oil on land and in marshes. This pipeline crosses along the bottom of the Great Lakes at the Straits of Mackinac, and through many sensitive inland lakes, rivers, and wetlands.

This pipeline poses an unacceptable risk to our water, ecosystems, health, and economy.

I urge you to act as legal public trustees of our waters and bottomlands to enforce the 1953 Easement and immediately shut down Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac to protect the Great Lakes from a catastrophic oil spill.

Charlie McKinney
posted about this
on Facebook2016-04-14 19:32:38 -0400

Join me in signing the petition to shut down the flow of oil in #Line5 - Michigan must enforce the Enbridge easement.

Charles McKinney signed
via Hannah McKinney2016-04-14 19:32:18 -0400

Mackinaw City is one of Michigan’s last vestiges of colonial history still majorly intact today. If what happened to Keystone Pipeline 89 a few days ago happened to Line 5 in Mackinaw City, the resulting disaster in our Great Lakes would be disastrous both economically and emotionally for the local community, the state, and the nation.